Battery-holder.



R. W MAGNA.

BATTERY HOLDER.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 11,1909.

946,905, r Patented Jam18, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: I I [NVENTOR. a? G [a Z2 M v f. dim/L BY 7 ionrrnn srarnsrarnnr orator.

RUSSELL W. IEAGNA, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

BATTERY-HOLDER.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RUssELL W. MAGNA, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Battery-Holder, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices for holding batteries inboxes or other receptacles and while removing them from and placing themin such boxes or receptacles, in which I employ a support which risesfrom a base-piece between the lateral edges of the latter and isequipped with suitable securing or gripping means and connecting meansfor the batteries held thereby, all as hereinafter set forth.

The objects of my invention are, first, to produce a simple, compact,and comparatively inexpensive holder with which a number of drybatteries can be easily and quickly connected or disconnected and whencon nected will be securely supported and held in place, such holderbeing designed especially to fit the ordinary battery box of anautomobile; second, to provide such aholder with convenient meanswhereby the wires which constitute the circuit members to and from theholder and its batteries can be readily attached and detached to andfrom said holder, and, third, to furnish a holder of this kind which canbe taken from the box, carried about freely, and returned to the boxwithout fear of dropping or disarranging in any way the batteriessupported thereby. This last is an important advantage, because it isnecessary more or less fre quently to change the old batteries of anautomobile for new ones, and it is a great convenience to be thus ableto lift them all out together from their box, take them into a garage,substitute new batteries for the old ones, and then carry the newbatteries back and place them in said box.

I attain these objects by the. means illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a preferred form ofmy holder with its equipment of six batteries in position, the holderand batteries shown either being ready to be placed in a box or elsehaving been just taken therefrom, as the case may be; Fig. 2, a sideelevation of said holder without the batteries, a portion of thevertical support together with a portion of the superimposed plateSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 11, 1909.

Patented Jan. 18, 1916. Serial No. 477,334.

being broken away to show to better advantage how the handle isconnected with these parts, and said handle being shown in its elevatedposition by dot-and-dash lines; Fig. 3, an end elevation of the holder,the outer terminals with their clips or snapcontacts of the flexibleconnections being broken off; Fig. 4, an enlarged plan of one of theclips; Fig. 5, an enlarged section of one of the snap-contacts; Fig. 6,an enlarged end elevation of such snap-contact; Fig. 7, an enlargedinside elevation of one of the connector springs; Fig. 8, an enlargedinside elevation of the circuit-forming member at one end, and, Fig. 9,an enlarged inside elevation of the circuit-forming member at the otherend.

Similar figures of reference designate like parts throughout the severalviews.

My holder has the general form of an in verted T and is usually made ofwood. It comprises a horizontal base 1 and a vertical support 2 risingfrom the longitudinal center of said base, with four horizontalsupporters or stays 3, two of such stays being in the angles formed bysaid support with said base, and two on opposite sides of the support alittle distance below the top of the same. In these stays areconcavities or recesses 4- which conform to the shape of the batterieswhich the device is designed to receive, or to such portions of saidbatteries as are to be fitted into said recesses. There are threerecesses t in each stay 3, since this holder is intended to accommodatesix batteries, three on a side, although the holder might be made toaccommodate more or less than that number. The batteries are indicatedat 5, in Fig. 1. The recesses a in each vertically arranged pair on aside are in line with each other, but the vertical center of suchrecesses on one side is slightly to the right or left of the verticalcenter of the corresponding recesses on the other side for reasons whichwill presently appear. Suitable fastening means, for the batteries 5,must be provided, and such means should be of such a nature as tocooperate with the stays 3 in holding said batteries securely in placein the holder, and also to permit the batteries to be easily and quicklyattached to and detached from said holder. For this purpose, I prefer toemploy a plurality of curved, open-ended spring clips 6 which arefastened to both sides of the support 2 be tween the upper and understays 3, said clips being in line with the recesses 4: above and below.There are six clips 6, and each has its inner or middle portion entbackward or outward, shown at 27, in Fig. 4:, and fastened to thesupport 2. and is provided with flarin g lips 7- which enable a batteryto be readily forced into the embrace of the clip. \Vhen the batteries 5are in position, the arms of the clips (3 partially embrace the sides ofsaid batteries and at the same time retain the batteries in the recessesa, so that said batteries cannot get loose or rattle. The clips yieldsufficiently, however, to permit the batteries to be forced into and outof engagement therewith.

In order to provide for expeditiously connecting the batteries 5 inseries without liability of mistake, and for as expeditiouslydisconnecting said batteries, I equip the holder with a suitable fixedcontact 8 for the negative pole 9 of a battery, and with some suitableflexible connection for the positive pole 10 of such battery.

Each fixed contact, in the present instance, consists of a strip of moreor less resilient metal doubled on itself to form the screwreceivingends of the contact, and having its free ends bent outward, over towarda common center, and then inward to form the poleorbinding-screw-receiving portions of the contact. This constructioninsures a. good engagement. between the contact 8 and the binding-postwhich constitutes the negative pole 9 of a battery 5, and allows suchbinding-post to be forced into engagement with said contact at the timethe battery is forced into the corresponding clip 6, and to be forcedout of such engagement at the time the battery is forced out of suchclip. The contacts 8 are secured by screws 11 and 12 to the support 2 onopposite sides thereof and above the upper stays 8, those on one side ofsaid support being in staggered relation to those on the other side soas to bring their vertical centers into line with the vertical centersof the recesses st and clips 6 below. By thus offsetting or staggeringthe contacts 8, I make provision for utilizing the screws 12 for adouble. purpose, as will subsequently be explained. Incidentally, thecontacts 8 assist in steadying and supporting the batteries, when inplace, by reason of the engagement of the poles 9 with said contacts.

For the flexible connection, hereinbefore referred to, I prefer to use adevice which comprises a length of insulated wire 13 having asnap-contact 14c at one end and some suitable fastening means at theother end. This snap-contact may consist of two members 28, comprisingnose-pieces at one end and spreading wing pieces at the other, mountedon a pivot pin 29, with a spring 30 also on said pin so arranged as tobear against said wings to force them apart and said nose-pieces intoengagement. Upon pressing the wings of the members toward each other thenose-pieces separate or open. The snap-contact 14: is adapted forengagement with and disengagement from a binding-post of the carbonelectrode or positive pole 10 of a battery, it can be manipulated withease and despatch, and when connected with the binding-post theconnection is a good one electrically. The fastening means, in thiscase, for each flexible contact, consists of a sleeve 15, and thissleeve, excepting in one instance as explained below, is secured inplace, horizontally, with one end against one side of the support 2 bymeans of one of the screws 12, after said screw has passed through theadjacent end of an adjacent contact 8 and through said support, suchcontact being, of course, on the oppo site side of the support to thesleeve. The sleeve 15 of the first flexible contact at the positive endof the holder, which is the lefthand end in the first two views and theend presented to the beholder in the last view, is mounted in a verticalposition on one of the upper stays 3 and there held by means of a screw16 which passes upward through said stay into threaded engagemei'it withsaid sleeve.

I will next describe the connections for the holder at the ends of thesame with the main wires of the circuit, attached terminal portions ofsuch wires being represented at 17 and 18, although in practice when theholder is out of its box, as it is in the drawings, said holder isdisconnected from such wires, as will be readily understood. A verticalspring 19, having a pin 20 on its inner face near the top, is fastenedat its lower terminal to each verti *al edge of the support 2. Acircuit-forming strip 21 extends from the upstanding sleeve 15, to whichit is secured, over between the adjacent edge of the support 2 and thehead of the adjacent spring 19, such strip being perforated at 31, Fig.8, as is the support to receive the pin 20 which projects inward fromsaid spring. The wire 17 is firmly engaged between the strip 21 and theassociated spring 19, said wire being looped to receive the pin 20carried by said spring. At the opposite end of the support 2, acircuit-forming angle 22 serves a similar purpose to that of the strip21. One end of the angle 2 is tightly secured to the nearest fixedcontact 8 by means of the next adjacent screw 11, and the other end ofsaid angle is bent over the adjacent edge of the support 2 inside of thehead of the spring 19 at this end of said support. The short arm of theangle 22 and the support 2 behind it are perforated for the pin 20 whichoperates through and in such perforations, the perforation in said shortarm appearing at 32, in Fig. 9. The wire 18 is looped and attached tothe holder through the medium of the angle 22 and the associated spring19 and pin 20, in substantially the same way that the wire 17 is attached to said holder, good electrical connections being insured in bothcases. To disconnect the wires 17 and 18 from the holder it is simplynecessary to force the outer ends or heads of the springs 19 outward farenough to free the looped ends of said wires from the pins 20; and saidsprings are drawn outward at the top in the same manner and to the sameextent, of course, to allow such lapped ends to be introduced into placefor the purpose of connecting the wires to said holder again. When theaforesaid looped ends of the wires 17 and 18 are in place, the springs19 are released and their resiliency causes their heads and pins to moveinward and forcibly engage such wires. It will now be seen that, whenthe batteries 5 have been placed in the holder and connected, ashereinbefore fully set forth, and when the holder has been connectedwith the wires 17 and 18, as also hereinbefore fully set forth, theelectric circuit is complete from said wire 17 through said holder tosaid wire 18 by way of the strip 21, the flexible and fixed contactswith the interposed batteries having the snap-contacts 14- on theirpositive poles and their negative poles in the grasp of said fixedcontacts, the screws 12 which connect live of the flexible-contactsleeves 15 with a corresponding number of contacts 8, and the angle 22.Upon disconnecting the wires 17 and 18 and taking the holder with itscontained batteries to some suitable place for the exchange of saidbatteries, such exchange is effected by disengaging the snap contacts lland removing the batteries from the holder, and then placing freshbatteries in said holder and connecting them up in the same way as theold ones were connected. Now the holder with its lead of new batteriesis returned to its box or other receptacle and the wires 17 and 18 areonce more attached thereto. It is plain that this exchange can be madevery quickly and with very little trouble.

The holder is furnished with a handle 23 which is so attached to saidholder that, when not in use, it descends out of the way. The handle 23consists of a rod or wire bent to form two vertical branches whichextend downward from the horizontal part or grip of the handle and havebuttons 2 124= at their bottom ends. Vertical passages 2525 are made inthe top of the support 2 to receive the vertical branches and theirbuttons 2st of the handle 23. A plate 26 is fastened on top of thesupport 2 over the passages 25, and this plate has holes therein for thevertical branches of the handle, but such holes are not large enough forthe buttons 24 to pass through. Normally the grip of the handle lies ontop of the plate 26 with the buttons 21 at the bottom of the passages25, but when it is desired to use the handle, in carrying the holder,said handle is drawn up until said buttons bear against the under sideof said plate, as illustrated by dot-anddash lines, in Fig. 2. hen thehandle is in the position last described, the holder can be moved aboutwithout difliculty. Upon its release, the handle descends by its ownweight into its low position. The construction and arrangement of thehandle and its retaining members, as shown and described, areparticularly useful in adapting the holder to a closely fittingreceptacle, provided with a cover, for the holder.

It is obvious that changes in the shape, size, and minor details ofconstruction of my holder may be made without departing from the natureof my inventlon.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in a battery holder, with a vertical support and abase projecting laterally beyond such support in both directions, saidsupport being provided with holding means and with circuit-forming meansfor batteries independent of said holding means, of circuit-formingmembers and springs having pins extending inward from their freeterminals to engage said circuitforming members and retain maincircuitforming wires in place between said lastmentionedmembers andsprings, the circuitforming members and springs which constituteengaging and disengaging means for the main circuit-forming wires beingsitu' ated at the ends of said support and in cir cuitwith saidfirst-mentioned circuit-forming means.

2. The combination, in a battery holder, with a vertical support and abase projecting laterally from such. support in both direc tions, saidsupportbeing provided on both sides with retaining or holding means forbatteries, of fixed and movable contacts on both sides of the supportfor the poles of said batteries, flexible connections between thesupport and said movable contacts, mainwire connecting means for thefixed contacts at one end and the flexible connection at the other endof the holder, and connecting means between the other flexibleconnections and the other fixed contacts, such last-mentioned meanspassing from one side of the support to the opposite side thereof.

3. The combination, in a battery holder, with a vertical support and abase projecting laterally beyond such support in both directions, ofrecessed blocks and spring clips which constitute retaining or holdingmeans for batteries on both sides of said support, fixed contacts andflexible connections provided with movable contacts for the poles ofsaid batteries also on both sides of said support, and engaging anddisengaging means contacts, and the other flexible connections for11121111 circuit-fornnng Wires at the ends being connected through thesupport with of the support, such engaging and d1senthe other fixedcontacts.

gaging means at one end being connected RUSSELL HAGNA. with one of theflexlble connections and such htnesses: engaging and dlsengaglng meansat the other F. A. CUTTER,

end being connected with one of the fixed A. C. FAIRBANKS.

